New Web
by brown phantom
Summary: Peter Parker thought his life was tough enough already, but it may turn out that up until now life was going easy on him. Spectacular, amazing, ultimate, whatever adjective you use, Spiderman is in for a lot more. Is he up to the challenge?
1. Prototype

Chapter 1 Prototype

It was the day after the funeral of Norman Osborn, AKA the Green Goblin to those that knew that. Like many days before, Spiderman could be seen swinging along the edge of a building heading where only he knows.

"Just another normal day in the life of Peter Parker. Gwen still is dating Harry, even though I confessed to her, thanks to how much Harry has been hurt lately. At least she's keeping him off the Green and not becoming some new goblin. That's the only good thing, Harry hates Spiderman since it is my fault his father, the Green Goblin, is gone. Liz hates me after I broke up with her, and if that wasn't enough her brother is now a super villain. Black Cat hates me because her father wanted to stay in prison. Mysterio, Kraven, Hammerhead, and worst of all Tombstone are still on the loose. Eddie became insane after losing the symbiote. John Jameson is still mad with power. And the cherry that tops it all off, Pricklepuss still hates me no matter what I do and I'm narrating to myself."

Spiderman came to a stop atop a random skyscraper and looked up at the sunny sky. "Well, all that exposition didn't do me much good, though it was nice to arrange my thoughts. Am I really doing the right thing as Spiderman? Since-"

Suddenly from down below he heard the rather loud indications of another bank robbery. "Well that's my cue to kick more villain butt."

Spiderman swiftly moved to swing down the building since wallcrawling down would take too long. 'I wonder who it's going to be this time. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if it was Team Rocket or Pinky and the Brain.'

When Spiderman landed near the bank's entrance he saw two people in what looked like costumes. Not much of a shock. One had a feminine figure and wore a black and purple full body suit with a purple mask that included green-lensed goggles, and weirdest of all four wings on the back. The other one looked more masculine and sported a red Iron Man type armor but with a silver beetle-like face with yellow lenses, silver arms connected to a silver chest piece, silver boots, and green plasma wings.

"Okay everyone put the money in the fucking bag and no one loses a head!" The female of the duo said threateningly.

Spiderman then jumped in the bank. "Looks like someone's playing with Ironman's toys again."

Both the male and female in armor turn and saw the costumed hero. "Spiderman!"

"You were expecting Harry Potter?" He quipped.

Rather than respond, the woman rushed at the hero. "You will pay!"

"Oh great, another nut that wants revenge for something I didn't know I did." Spiderman replies while jumping to the ceiling then proceeded to web the woman's visors, "How about you tell me you and your friend's names to skip the introduction?"

The male replied first. "I am Beetle and the woman here is Weevil." His mask hid his expression, which probably could be best described from the tone as unimpressed.

"I'm going to assume that those weren't your first choices for names. Were the good ones taken already?"

The woman now addressed as Weevil sneered, even though her visor hid it. "This coming from a man who calls himself the Human Spider?"

"It's Spiderman, though I do answer to Spidey." Spiderman corrected.

"Answer to this!" Weevil said before pointing her plasma gun at the web slinger and firing it. As expected, Spiderman had little trouble dodging the bullets.

"Now I see why the Beatles broke up."

"DIE SPIDERMAN!" Weevil screamed before launching more plasma bullets at the wallcrawler. Spiderman agilely got out of the way and clung to the wall.

However unknown to Spiderman he was being monitored by some secret cameras on both Weevil and Beetle's armor. The camera fed images to a monitor, and the person watching was a man about 49 with white hair and wearing a white lab coat. "So this is Spiderman, if the armor I made specifically for Beetle and Weevil doesn't unmask or kill Spiderman then the data I am gathering will help me with my next armor." The man then puts down a diagram of what looks like a Scorpion Armor.

Back with our web-swinging hero, Spiderman ensnared and threw Weevil out of the building, "And you are out of here."

"No you don't webhead." Beetle then chose to act and lunged at Spiderman. Spidey dodged it with the ease of a gymnast, making Beetle go right past him.

"That might have actually worked had you not warned me. Seriously, with some guys it's like I don't need a spider sense at all." Beetle turned around in the air and comes back for him with a wrist-mounted gun coming out of his arm. "Right, Ironman toys and his weapons too."

The old man watching the monitors then pushed a button below the monitor, triggering a communicator within the helmets of Weevil and Beetle. "Janice Lincoln, Abner Jenkins, enough. You have the money, leave now."

Beetle rolled his eyes. "Whatever Mr. Smythe, Weevil we are leaving now."

"No way Beetle I haven't killed Spiderman yet!"

"Now Weevil we're leaving!"

Both Weevil and Beetle turned on the plasma wings on their armor and crashed through the bank door making a big hole in the bank, which they used as an exit. However Spiderman swiftly followed them by web swinging really fast.

"DIE!" Weevil declared, shooting more plasma bullets. Used to making sharp turns in the air, Spiderman just kept on dodging them while swinging. "Will you just hold fucking still?!"

"Sorry but I prefer to stay alive." Spiderman quipped before webshooting Weevil's jet pack. "Talk about Déjà vu, only this time it's with a psychotic babe instead of a cranky old man with a beak nose."

A bright flash came into their peripheral vision and before either knew it a fireball was shot at them. Spiderman and Weevil had to put some distance between themselves to avoid it.

"What the hell?" Weevil asked. "Who's throwing fire around here?"

"The one and only Human Torch that's who." A man covered from head to toe in flames said, hovering in front of the armored woman.

"The Fantastic Four?" Beetle asked, looking around for the rest but not seeing them. But considering that one member of the famous quartet had power of invisibility that wasn't reassuring. "Weevil, we need to get out of here."

Weevil either didn't hear her partner or chose to ignore him. "Just more of you for me to take down!" She yelled, firing more plasma bullets at both Spiderman and Human Torch thanks to having mechanisms on both arms. Spiderman and Human Torch dodged, though only the latter fired back.

Spiderman got on the side of a building, pausing to watch Human Torch continue the fire. 'Too bad I can't get a picture of this. Though I don't think the Fantastic Four want Jameson to start slandering them too.'

Beetle joined in to give his partner a hand, though Human Torch didn't seem to mind. He was as free in the air as they were and his attacks easily countered their own.

'Okay, he's got them distracted.' Spiderman thought as he started to swing around to behind them. Once in position he hid and waited, just in case they had noticed him do this. He set up two webs and pulled at them, setting himself up for a slingslot throw.

Timing it right, Spiderman sprung forward, aiming for Weevil. He hit her from behind, essentially kicking her with both feet at the same time, blowing a hole in her jetpack and knocking her out of the fighting area. The propulsion system sputtered and she lost the ability to control herself, resulting in her falling. Not willing to let any of her enemies die, at least not at his hands, Spiderman worked to make a web to catch the falling Weevil.

Weevil got ensnared and struggled to get out of the web but to no avail. Spiderman then hung upside-down in front of her. "Come into my parlor said the spider to the... what are you again?"

"I AM WEEVIL YOU DICK!"

"Language young lady, or you will get your butt kicked oh wait, I already kicked your butt a few seconds ago."

Beetle used this chance to get away from Human Torch and attack Spiderman with a red plasma blade that was hooked up to Beetle's hand. He aimed it at the wallcrawler's waist, which activated the spider sense. Alerted, Spiderman dropped down to dodge the laser blade and then web a side of a building so he would not fall on the pavement. "Is that a lightsaber or a bug zapper?"

Ignoring the hero, Beetle took the chance to get to Weevil and cut her free.

"Did you forget about me already?" Human Torch asked, coming down attempting to grab Beetle. The armored man had to move quickly to avoid this, and in doing so he accidentally cut Weevil's suit, making her scream in anger and pain. At the same time the web was catching fire due to the proximity of being so close to the fire-themed superhero.

"Weevil, my love I am sorry I …" Beetle started, trying to cut her free still.

"It's okay, kill that bastard of a spider for all he has done for my family."

'His love? Damn, why does everyone get the girl except me?' Spiderman asked himself

Beetle nodded and aimed another laser at Spiderman, first since he had been the requested target, but like always the acrobatic swinger kept on dodging them. Not to mention Human Torch wasn't just standing there waiting for his turn.

"HOLD STILL YOU SPIDER FREAK!" Beetle shouted.

"Well at least he didn't call me an insect like so many others. How hard is it to remember spiders are arachnids?"

Now that Human Torch didn't have the spotlight on him, a shame in his eyes nonetheless, he took the opportunity to attack. One of his fireballs hit Beetle's jetpack and made something explode.

"I'm guessing that's not supposed to happen to your gizmos." Human Torch quipped.

"Hey, snarky comments are my thing." Spiderman protested.

"YOU BASTARD! I WILL MAKE YOU PAY SPIDERMAN!" He screamed in violent rage, though why he directed it at the webhead was anyone's guess.

Spiderman chuckled. "Could you say that less like a Captain Planet villain? It's hard to take you seriously like that."

Human Torch nodded. "I gotta agree."

Rather than answer, Beetle simply went all out on attacking the heroes, while Weevil seemed to be checking her equipment for damage. Spiderman was starting to have a hard time dodging all the plasma bullets now, and had to hide behind some buildings. Human Torch resorted to a flame shield to keep the bullets from hitting anything else.

"Why can't the bad guys just cut their losses and surrender?" Spiderman asked himself while trying to catch his breath behind a corner. "I guess it's time for me to end this battle because I'm running out of time."

Spiderman went back around Beetle, and snuck up on him from below this time. Beetle however had grown aware of this tactic throughout this battle and turned to retaliate. He wasn't fast enough, he was punched in the jaw by an uppercut strike, which sent Beetle into the air with his helmet coming off him, showing a caucasian college student with brown hair and brown eyes.

"Damn it!" The now unmasked Beetle cursed.

"That's Abner Jenkins, Eddie's former roommate." Spiderman noted, recognizing the unmasked criminal. "Tell me, what's a college student like you robbing banks with your girlfriend?"

Beetle glared. "How do you know that I'm a college student?"

"I didn't, you just look that age. Let me guess, tuition too high?"

Beetle chose to zap Spiderman with a laser shot. "None of your damn business!" Spiderman barely managed to dodge this point blank shot, but doing so gave Beetle the chance to fly away and grab Weevil. This time the two took the advice to escape and did so.

"Want me to get them?" Human Torch asked Spiderman.

"Help yourself, I've got a few other things to do right now." Spiderman answered. For the first time he was grateful that this other hero had showed up, had he not Spiderman would have felt obligated to give chase and get his civilian persona into further trouble.

"Thanks man. Better luck next time." Human Torch said before flying off leaving a trail of flame behind him.

On the ground in an alley, Spiderman got to his feet and checked himself for injury. "Note to self, make tracers so I can follow the villains. Hmm... maybe if I play it right I can get Dr. Richards to make a few for me."

Satisfied he was still whole, the wallcrawler checked his watch. 'Oh shit I'm late for class, again.' He immediately started to web-sling to Midtown High as fast as his arms could handle the strain, berating himself in the process. 'This is just peachy. Not only did Beetle and Weevil get away but also I'm late for school. Ugh, can I hire a substitute like the teachers do?'

Unknown to Spiderman another person was watching him, his face and body hidden in the shadow. "So this is Spiderman. I'd say I was unimpressed, but that would be an understatement. He's been in the public eye how long and still is learning what his limits are?" Nevertheless, this unidentified man wrote down a few notes, certain that this would make his employer at least somewhat satisfied.

Midtown High

When Peter Parker finally got to Midtown High as Peter Parker and not as Spiderman, his first thought was that by now it might be better to skip school then sneak in. Nevertheless he went in as quietly as he could.

'There's no way I can get away with trying to get into class itself. I should wait until the next break and act like I've been here the whole time. Hopefully no one will notice I was gone.'

Being careful, Peter went into a bathroom to hide, unaware that a set of eyes had seen him do so. A set of interested eyes.

'Good, no one's already in he-' He thought to himself before the door opened behind him, exposing him and making him jump a bit. 'Where's my spider sense on that one?'

What made this worse, or weirder, depending on your definition, was that this person seeing him was a girl. One with long dark hair wearing a white long sleeve shirt and black shorts.

"What are you doing here? This is the men's room." Peter claimed.

"Peter Parker right?" She asked, eyes on him. "Listen, my name is Cindy Moon, and-"

"Can't this wait? I'm not in here for fun you know." Peter cut in, trying to act innocent, like he was in the bathroom because he needed it.

Cindy held up an arm and that was when his spider sense went off, with a rather weak bit of urgency to it. To his surprise, webbing came out of her sleeve. He dodged by jumping away and force of habit made him cling to the walls.

"How... did you...?" He started, dropping to the ground as she lowered her arm.

"Spiderman, you and I are in trouble. And we're not the only ones."

Peter took a deep breath. "I'm listening."

 _Authors notes_  
 _Beetle's armor is based of Beetle's armor in Ultimate Spiderman Comics but the person inside is Abner Jenkins a.k.a. the Original Beetle in the comics except he is a college student. Weevil is basically Janice Lincoln a.k.a. the current Beetle in the comics only with a few adjustments to her suit and the name change for obvious reasons._


	2. Infamous

Chapter 2 Infamous

Cindy and Peter were outside atop one of Midtown's skyscrapers. The teen girl had convinced Peter that he wouldn't get in anymore trouble than he already was if he just skipped the entire day, and frankly he couldn't argue with her. Sure Aunt May would wonder where he was, but he had time to come up with an explanation.

"So what do you want to know first? What the threat is, or how I know you?" Cindy asked, seated with her legs over the ledge of the building looking over the city. The Baxter Building and Avengers Tower could be seen from up here, making it a nice view for them.

"Definitely the second one. And how did you get spider powers too?" Peter asked. Currently neither were in costume but there was no one to see them. Both were counting on their spider sense to alert them if anyone would potentially catch them.

"Same way you did. And I really mean that, the exact same way. Same spider in fact."

"Hold on, the spider bit you too?" He asked. "If you've had spider powers all this time, then why am I just now hearing about it?"

She gave him a semi-dirty look and he found himself feeling a little nervous. "Well for one I wasn't interested in being a public figure. You've seen what that jackass Jameson says about you, was I supposed to want a piece of that too?"

"Fair enough." Peter consented. "But how do you know it was the same spider that bit me? What, did you test it for prints or something?"

Cindy's semi-dirty look continued. "Well, I'd hate to think there's more than one of those spiders. So I don't really know for certain, but I did get bitten on a class trip and looking back I remember you reacting the same way I did so I put two and two together."

Peter tried to think back to the day he got his powers. 'I don't really remember someone else saying anything, but if they did I probably wouldn't have heard it anyway. So it's not impossible.'

"So what have you been doing this whole time?" He asked.

"Learning, but mostly hiding. I haven't been to school since then. Heck, the only reason I was there today was to find you. Lucky me you were late."

"So how did you discover who I am? I mean, is that some spider power I don't know yet?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't be stupid Parker. I found you out because I've been interested in Spiderman."

"You and a dozen others. What makes you so special that you found out what they never did?"

"They were trying to figure out how to destroy you. I was trying to figure out how to find you. There's a big difference."

Peter was still skeptical. He was certain there was more to this than she was admitting. "So how exactly did you find out who I am?"

"Well, to be fair it wasn't me who did it. It was my caretaker Ezekiel who found out who Spiderman was under the mask. He's been studying you quite a bit since you went public."

Peter frowned. "Not good for me in my experience."

Cindy waved him off. "Oh he's no Doctor Octopus if that's what you're worried about. Ezekiel has been studying you so he'd be able to help me. You learned your powers through trial and error, I learned through him watching you."

"Gee, you're welcome." Peter remarked sarcastically.

Cindy narrowed her eyes at him. "Peter, I've been kept hidden away from any public eye since the day we got bitten. Don't you think there's a reason I'm revealing myself now?"

"So what's the big emergency? Tombstone running for governor? Galactus hungry again? Ghostrider coming to town?"

"Ezekiel thinks the Green Goblin, the real one, is still alive." Cindy answered.

Peter blinked. "That's impossible. I was at his funeral."

"Ezekiel says that he saw someone with the Green Goblin. A man named Miles Warren. He's bad news. He's the guy who gave Kraven the Hunter his fur coat."

Something clicked in Peter's mind. "Wait, Warren, that name sounds familiar."

"Peter, the important thing is the Green Goblin is still alive, and a man who knows how to make bad people worse is with him." Cindy pressed.

"I'm listening." was all he managed to say.

"Good. Now, Ezekiel thinks the Goblin is in Florida, doing who knows what. He's followed him, trying to find out more. So for now, I'm kind of on my own. Peter, right now I really need your help."

"How? You want me to let you stay at my place?"

Cindy shook her head. "No, where I live is stocked enough for me to keep there, though if you don't mind I'd at least like to keep that offer on the table if things get bad. What I really need is for you to help me get some experience. You've learned all your skills by putting them to use. I've barely done more than climb walls. If things get worse, you're going to need my help, and I need to get up to snuff _before_ I'm needed, not after."

'She's got a point.' Peter thought. "So what do we do? Wait for the next criminal and go in together like Batman and Robin?"

"You got a better idea?" She challenged.

And so both put on their outfits, or in Cindy's case covered in spiderwebs, and took to swinging through the city.

"Don't your webs dissolve in a hour like mine?" Spiderman asked.

"Yes, they do, so I have to reapply these every so often." She answered.

"I could make you a suit like I made mine, though I have to warn you that means getting your measurements." Spiderman suggested.

Cindy narrowed her eyes but kept swinging. "Go ahead. It's not like I can't hurt you if you get too frisky."

'Yeah, she'd probably hit me harder than Rhino could.' Spiderman thought. "I'll get right on it then, Spiderwoman."

Cindy stopped on a billboard that happened to have Jameson's face on it, prompting Spiderman to do the same. "Spiderwoman?"

"Well, if I'm Spiderman then it makes sense you're Spiderwoman. What, does Spidergirl sound better to you?"

"I was thinking of a name that doesn't make me sound like a copy of you, no offense. Besides, isn't the name Spiderwoman already taken?"

Spiderman shrugged. "Not that I know of. How many people could that spider have bitten?"

"Anyway, I like the sound of Silk more, so call me that." She requested.

"O...kay, Silk it is. I just hope you don't expect me to make the costume out of it."

Cindy, AKA Silk, looked down at the streets and could see that people were looking up at them, trying to take pictures. "Guess that by tonight everyone's going to know there are two wallcrawlers in New York now."

Spiderman nodded. "Yep, and I bet Jameson is going to be on your ass like he is on mine."

Silk looked disgusted but amused at the same time. "Now there's a mental image I could have gone my whole life without having."

Spiderman realized what he had said then facepalmed. "Wait, which one? Him on my ass or him on yours?"

"Well, I'm sure someone drew the first one for DeviantArt by now. I'm still free of that." Silk joked before shooting a web and swinging off.

"Great, quips at my expense. The student is becoming the master." Spiderman said sarcastically before swinging on after her.

*Ring... ring*

"Hello? Parker Residence." May Parker said as she answered the phone.

"Hello, Mrs Parker." The recognizable voice of Gwen Stacy greeted back.

"Oh hello Gwen. Aren't you still at school?"

"Yeah I am. Which is kind of why I'm calling. You see... Peter's not."

May silently gasped. "He's not? Are you sure?"

Gwen nodded. "Yeah, completely sure. Two classes we share are already done and Peter wasn't there for either of them. I asked Harry and Mary Jane and even Flash if they had seen him, but they all said no."

Flash had said more than that, but the important part was he hadn't seen Peter.

"Have you called him yet?" May asked.

"I wanted to check with you to see if he was home sick, but I'm guessing that's not the case now is it?"

"It certainly is not."

"Do you want to call him, or should I?" Gwen asked.

"Let me do it dear, you just get to your next class and let me take care of this. Thank you for letting me know about this Gwen."

"No problem Mrs. Parker. Here's hoping he's not hurt." Gwen finished before hanging up.

May sat down and looked at the phone without dialing, her hand shaking a little bit. The idea of her nephew skipping school wasn't even crossing her mind. Peter was too good a boy to play hooky. No, if he wasn't there, then something terrible must have happened. A lot of bad things were happening in New York lately, what if one of those costumed super criminals had gotten to him?

Horrified of what she might hear if she did this, she still dialed to check on her nephew.

*Ring... ring*

* * *

'Oh great, someone's calling. That's never good.' Spiderman thought as he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He had to ignore it, if for no reason other than to keep both arms free for swinging. Which quickly became irrelevant as he stopped atop a skyscraper.

"What is it? Spider sense going off?" Silk asked, joining him.

"No worse." He said as he pulled up his pant leg a bit, revealing some micro canisters strapped above his ankle. "Need to replace my empty web cartridges."

Silk looked annoyed, but allowed him to refill his web shooters. "How long do those things usually last?"

"Three days. Four if there's a slow crime week."

"I think Ezekiel can get ahold of some Pym Particles that might maximize the amount of fluid those things can hold." Silk offered.

Spiderman perked. "Seriously? Oh with those babies I could maybe have enough web fluid to last me a month."

Silk held up a single index finger. "Keep in mind, I just said I'd ask. I cannot promise he can get them."

"Still appreciated." Spiderman said, finishing his refill. He looked over the skyscraper and saw so far the city was as peaceful as one could expect it to be. "Well if you need a starting point I think there's a corner market that gets robbed all the time. I hear they actually forbid customers from paying in cash anymore since it's always stolen."

"C'mon Spidey give me a challenge." Silk remarked.

'Like not getting a wedgie with your own webbing?' He thought but wisely did not say. "Okay then Silkie, you want to do something risky? I got just the thing for you."

* * *

"What do you mean we can't publish this? It's news about a bank robbery involving Spiderman!" J. Jonah Jameson, owner of the Daily Bugle, shouted within his office.

"Sir, Spiderman wasn't the only one there." Robbie Robertson, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, stated. "We have confirmation that Johnny Storm, the Human Torch himself, was there and he himself says that he and Spiderman were working together. If you go to print accusing Spiderman of theft, then the Daily Bugle will also be declaring to all of New York that it thinks the Fantastic Four are criminals. Is that really a wasp's nest you want to poke?"

Jameson fumed silently, looking like he wanted to punch the wall but withheld himself. "So what do we say? That Spiderman worked with one of our most celebrated hero teams?"

"That's how it looks Jameson. And I don't think you can get away with accusing him of just pretending to be nice to lower suspicion."

Jameson didn't know what he disliked more, the fact Robbie was right or the fact Robbie knew him well enough to know Jameson would have gone with that angle if he could. Robbie had always been one of those on his staff that had respected the masked menace, seeing him as a hero rather than a criminal. And it seemed like this would have to be one of those times when he got to have the paper say that.

"Fine, publish what you want. As long as it doesn't say anything about us being wrong about Spiderman in the past or future. Got that?"

Robbie nodded. "Yes sir." He then left the office.

Alone, Jameson silently fumed and paced, trying to get his frustration out of his system.

"Hey mister, if you want to hurt yourself there are better ways than giving yourself an aneurysm."

Jameson jolted in place and turned towards his window, where now a teenage girl covering herself in spider webs yet still showing her bare legs kneeling on the ledge not unlike a more famous wallcrawler. The window was open, but Jameson did not remember leaving it open.

"Who the hell are you?!" Jameson shouted, pointing at her.

"The name's Silk, the newest spider person in town."

Jameson was quick to put on his unhappy face. "Another one of these bug-themed bastards? What are you, Spiderman's bitch?"

"No but I'm sure you are."

The newspaper manager fumed and looked ready to verbally tear her a new one, but she shot some webbing to cover his mouth before he could.

"Let a lady speak sir." She said casually. "I hear what you say about Spiderman, and it doesn't take a genius to know that you're not above slandering a girl too. So before you get your puny little brains cracking on how many ways you can call me a bitch without getting sued, let me give you a little warning."

She stepped back and put a hand on the window edge, looking like she was ready to leave at any second. "Spiderman has gone up against several super humans already. He's fought overgrown lizards, living bugzappers, your own bulked up son, and he's beaten them all. He's strong, much stronger than you, do you really want to keep pissing him off? Especially now that there are two of us?"

She then jumped out the window and web-swinged away, leaving Jameson to fume until the webbing dissolved.

* * *

After dealing with Jameson, Spiderman and Silk swung around the city, looking for times they'd be needed and overall just having fun being free among the skyscrapers. So far, it seemed New York was having a peaceful day for once. No police en route, no screaming civilians, no giant robots or mutated animals.

"So this is what a boring day as a superhero is like?" Silk asked, perched on a billboard advertising the latest ipad ripoff made by Stark Industries.

"Better enjoy it. In our line of work we crave the boring days." Spiderman told her, perched there alongside her.

"Well if nothing's going to happen, I should probably check back with Ezekiel, make sure he's doing alright."

Spiderman nodded. "And I better check back with..." His eyes widened. "Oh crap! Crap crap crap!"

"What?" Silk asked.

"Aunt May, how am I going to explain to her I played hookie? Someone's bound to have told her by now!"

"Then you've got two choices. Either face the music, or we make it look like one of those villains attacked your civilian form and I saved you."

Spiderman thought it over. "How would it make it look like I was attacked?"

* * *

Knock knock

A door opened, and Aunt May gasped. "Peter, what happened to you?"

Peter was barely standing, bruises on his face with a swollen eye, using Silk for support. "I... got ambushed." He wheezed.

May quickly took him into her arms, holding him carefully. "It's okay dear. I'm glad you're okay." She then took notice of Silk. "Who are you?"

"Your friendly neighborhood Silk. Spiderman can't save everyone ma'am. Be glad I was there to save him before that thug could finish the job."

"Thank you Silk." May said.

"Yeah, thank you Silk." Peter added sarcastically, but his aunt didn't notice it.

"Anytime." Silk said, enjoying this a little more than she probably should have, then web-swinged away.


	3. Information

Chapter 3 Information

"So this is where you live?" Peter asked when he got to an apartment. It was about what one would expect of a low-rent place, minimally furnished and not at all decorated. The only thing that really stood out were spiderwebs, a police CB radio, and what looked like school books in the corner.

"Sort of. It's mostly a decoy. It would look weird if Ezekiel was seen with a teenage girl in his place that never went outside. This makes us both look less like criminals." Cindy explained.

"How do you afford it? Superheroing doesn't exactly pay the bills and we can't all be as rich as Ironman."

"Ezekiel has some patents that cover our expenses. Now, let's get this part over with."

Peter opened a duffel bag and pulled out a measuring tape. Cindy silently sighed and pulled her shirt over her head, blushing the entire time. Peter blushed too, being a normal teen boy seeing an attractive girl in her bra right in front of him. He felt like he should cover his eyes, but considering he'd have to look sooner or later there was no point to preserving modesty now.

Cindy then removed her shorts, leaving her in just her underwear now. She stood upright, hands clenched in fists, eyes closed, and refusing to face him while standing in a way to avoid giving him a direct look at her butt. "Remember what I told you."

"Like I'd forget." He said as he came up to her and started measuring her right arm. "Be glad it's me and not someone like Flash Thompson."

"I'd rather it be a girl." Cindy remarked.

"Well according to multiverse theory somewhere out there there's a world where Peter Parker was born a girl. And most likely still got bit by that spider."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Cindy asked, not sounding amused.

"I'll shut up now."

Peter got to work, trying to get it done fast, but at the same time he had to take his time to be accurate and write down the measurements. But inevitably he had to measure her special areas, making her feel as uncomfortable as she had the first time she had to be checked by an OB/GYN.

"Try not to breathe so deeply please." Peter requested when he tried to wrap the measuring tape around her breasts. "It's affecting the tape."

"Sorry." She said quietly, trying to calm herself.

The tape slipped for a moment and Peter had to reposition it from the front, his fingers unintentionally caressing the fabric of her cups. The unexpected sensation of being touched made Cindy open her eyes, and their eyes locked on each other. For reasons neither could explain, they couldn't bring themselves to look away. It was awkward and sexual all at once, and neither had any idea what to do next.

They only snapped out of it when they realized that their faces were slowly getting closer. Cindy's heart pounded more than before, to the point where one could swear it was a bomb. When she had a brief moment of clarity, the spider-powered girl shoved Peter away from her, forgetting her spider strength as she did so.

Peter rolled over a chair and tumbled across the wall, the fall being the only thing that kept him from colliding with the wall. And his own endurance being what kept him from breaking anything, internally or externally. Groaning and holding his head, he tried to get up, out of the corner of his eye seeing Cindy nervously crouched in a fetal position shivering a bit and breathing heavily, practically panting.

"You okay?" He asked.

Without a word, Cindy covered herself in her webbing. In her current position she looked like she was pupating, at least until she stood up. "I need some air. Just work with what you've got." Not bothering to get a response, she jumped out the window and swung away.

Peter got up, not painlessly, and dusted himself off. "What the heck was that about? It was like I wasn't in my right mind. Almost like the symbiote, but... something else."

* * *

In her Silk persona, Cindy rushed over the streets of the city. "C'mon criminals, give me something. A bank robbery, an anti-mutant riot, the Hulk, _anything_ to get my mind off all that."

So far though, nobody was agreeing to her request.

"Ugh, just my luck New York has all the heroes in the country. How many are there? Spiderman, Ironman, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Dr. Strange, don't other cities have super criminals too?"

Her spider sense alerted her, telling her that danger was in the area but not coming right towards her. She went to the top of a building and looked around, quickly finding the trigger. A drone was following her.

"Hey, if you're hoping I'm naked under this you're sadly disappointed!"

The drone kept watching her, allowing her to get a good look at it. It was an advanced piece of machinery, too advanced to be one of those store bought drones kids played with. Which meant whoever was superhero-watching at the moment had a vested interest in seeing one.

Not liking that, Silk shot some webbing to cover the visible lens. The drone quivered in the air for a pit, but regained its balance. Then two more cameras popped out, zooming in on the webbed woman. Any doubt that this may belong to an average citizen was gone now. Silk shot some more webbing and this time tethered the drone to the building.

Her spider sense went off again, causing Silk to jump to the side and miss some kind of projectile. When she landed she saw another drone, this time with a gun of some sort attached to it.

"Dammit Peter why did you have to piss off so many criminals?" She muttered bitterly to herself, jumping off the building and web-swinging away. The drone followed her but thanks to her acrobatics, spider sense, and momentum she was proving too difficult a target to hit.

Turning around a corner she went in between two buildings, limiting her ability to dodge but she had another plan. The drone followed her ready to fire, then at the right moment Silk dropped lower and clung to the walls, causing the drone to fly past her before it could realize what she had done. Standing horizontally on the wall Silk shot off some more webs and essentially tangled up the drone like a fly, being lucky enough to make sure the gun wasn't aiming anywhere near her.

"Boy, sure glad Ironman doesn't make anti-spider machines. Or this would have been tougher."

The drone made some beeps then in a surprise move exploded. Not in a major way like a car bomb, more in a simple self destruct method. Nevertheless, Silk was satisfied and continued web-swinging.

* * *

"Hmm... the spiderwoman seems to have the more basic of Spiderman's skills. No new abilities yet displayed, but since female spiders are generally more dangerous than the males I'm positive her own powers must reflect that. I should introduce a more prominent threat into the environment to see her reaction, once I can be certain she will be there of course with minimal assistance from others." The one controlling the drones said to themselves, watching the feedback on some monitors.

"Speaking of assistance from other..." They added, rising from their chair. "I should get started on the other portion of my grand plan."

* * *

"Hey Peter!"

Walking back home, Peter saw his best friend and desired dating partner Gwen Stacey coming towards him with a sense of urgency. As she did he shuffled his bag in an attempt to better hide his sketches for Silk's new costume. Didn't want to give Gwen the wrong idea.

When she got closer and could see the bruises that hadn't healed yet, Gwen slowed down. "Whoa Peter, what the hell happened to you?"

"Eh, I got abducted yesterday by one of Spiderman's enemies. I think it was the Rhino, but he didn't exactly leave his business card when he was done." He lied.

Any bad feelings she had about him missing school yesterday evaporated. "Oh I am so sorry Peter. What did he want from you? How did you get away?"

Peter shrugged. "No idea what he wanted, except maybe a punching bag. But naturally Spiderman came in to save the day, along with this new spiderwoman in town. She said her name was Silk."

"There's a spider woman too?" Gwen repeated, and Peter nodded. "What's she like?"

"Shes... got a good punch, I'll give her that." The science major replied, trying not to grimace at the memory.

"Better hope so, cause if Flash finds out he might try hitting on her." Gwen joked.

Peter blinked. "Y'know, I did not think of that, but now that you mention it I can really see it happening. Oh I hope I'm there to see her tell him no."

"What if she says yes?"

"Then let's hope she's one of those spiders that eat after they mate." Peter joked, making Gwen smirk if not laugh.

"Oh, hey Peter." Peter's other good friend Harry Osborn called to him as he too came to join. Both Peter and Gwen had a momentary uncomfortable look to them that they knew they had to hide from Harry.

"Hey Harry, how have things been?" Peter asked, since they haven't had much time to talk since Norman's funeral.

The rich boy tried not to look awkward. "Ehh... as good as can be. Football team still gives me dirty looks, but I think Flash is at least stopping them from doing anything more. Mom's kind of... shut off. I haven't heard her say a word since the funeral. If I didn't have Gwen and you Peter I think I might have gone all emo or started a drug problem by now."

"Glad to help keep you sane and sober then buddy." Peter weakly joked. No one laughed.

Peter felt incredibly awkward. Not only did he and Gwen have to pretend there was nothing between them other than friendship, but now that he had reason to believe Harry's father was still alive, he couldn't begin to think of what to say or do around his friend. Hiding a secret identity was one thing, but this was like holding onto an emotional bomb just praying it didn't go off anytime soon.

"Say Gwen, you up for a movie? My treat of course." Harry said to the blonde girl.

"Uhh... sure, I'd like that." She replied, feeling like it was the only appropriate answer to give.

"Have fun you two. I still got to get Aunt May's refill." Peter said to excuse him, then left a little too hasty to just be casual. Harry waved him off then gestured for Gwen to follow him.

'Why am I so unlucky? What, did I piss on a leprechaun's grave or something?' Peter bitterly asked himself, wishing he could web-swing away instead.

* * *

Inside one of the warehouses down by the piers that night, there was a man who was not supposed to be there. Hiding behind some piles of crates, he appeared to be working on some kind of tech suit.

"Damn, this is getting expensive. I'm actually starting to wonder if it would be better to steal one of Stark's suits and repurpose it." He muttered to himself as he sautered some wires.

"Perhaps if you didn't make so many robot dupes you'd save money."

This comment made the man back away from the suit and look around, holding his welding gear as if he would use it as a weapon if he could. "Who the hell are you?"

From the walls he could see what he assumed was a man in a dark suit, standing so that everything above his chest was shrouded in darkness. The shape of the hips made it clear this was indeed a man, but there was no other way to narrow down their identity.

"Hello, Quentin Beck, better known to the world as Mysterio. Been struggling for some time?"

The master of illusions tensed. "Are you with Tombstone?"

"No, Tombstone's days are done. Someone has to fill the power vacuum he left behind. That will be me. But I do have a place in my upcoming empire for you if you wish."

"You must be that guy in Hell's Kitchen they call the Kingpin." Quentin stated, feeling a little better now that he had a name to give this guy. Though the fact that his own name was known too unnerved him more by comparison.

The shrouded man laughed. "William Fisk? Me? Maybe if I doubled my body weight. No I'm not the Kingpin Mysterio. I'm a master at what I do."

"Some master. You're asking me to work for you without telling me who you are." Quentin argued.

"Like you haven't done that? Does Chameleon or Doctor Octopus know who you are? Can either of them tell you apart from one of your robot replicas?"

"How do you know I'm not one?" Quentin asked.

"I have my ways. All I'll say is you practically use more robot versions of yourself than Dr. Doom." The shrouded man joked. "But I didn't come here to waste your time. I was intrigued by your old group the Sinister Six, and I'm looking to create a more perfected version."

Quentin grimaced, remembering how half a dozen supervillains had been beaten by one guy wearing red and blue spandex. "Why would I want to relive that part of my past?"

"Well for starters, I can finance you. So you don't have to risk pissing off one of the few people in the world willing to fight the Hulk. For another, there's some news you might want to know. There's another spider person out there."

"Yeah, isn't it that black beast that called itself Venom?" Quentin asked.

"No, another one. A spider woman. Same powers as Spiderman, but so far still unknown enough that she might have some tricks up her sleeve that even Spiderman doesn't."

Quentin set down his welding tools. "They're multiplying?"

"Yes. And if they are three spider people in the city now, who's to say there aren't more now or will be later? What are you going to do if the next time you go on a little heist you get ambushed by half a dozen spider heroes yourself? You're good at what you do Mysterio, but outnumbered you are weak. There's a reason you've never taken on the Fantastic Four after all."

Quentin rubbed his chin and glanced towards his Mysterio helmet. "Suppose for the sake of argument I took you on your offer. What exactly would you be asking of me?"

"For now, draw out the spiders and push them to their limits. Same thing you've been doing. I'll give you some new tricks of your own to make it easier, and sometimes I might ask you to go recruit a new member or two on my behalf."

Quentin thought it over.

"So what do you have to lose?" The shrouded man asked.

"Nothing I wasn't already willing to lose before you came to me." Quentin replied with a smirk.

"Pleasure doing business with you. I'll contact you when I need you to handle some spiders." The shrouded man said before departing.

* * *

"What's going on? Where am I?"

In one of the alleys of Manhattan, a young girl sat down on the concrete but she didn't look like she was doing it on purpose. Rather she looked like she had just appeared there, and her confused expression certainly heightened that impression. Other than that, she appeared to be a normal eleven year old girl with freckles, brown hair in a ponytail, and wearing a light blue sweater with dark blue pants.

Looking around a corner she saw the city. "Okay, still looks like New York. But what was that white light?"

Nervous, she backed away from the sidewalk to where she felt less visible, but not braver. "I have to get home. Without being seen. I don't have my costume on me."

Looking around to see if anyone was watching her, she took a deep breath when she felt secure, then put both hands on the side of a building. Then she began to crawl up the wall.


	4. Parallel

Chapter 4 Parallel

In the suburbs of Midtown everything was peaceful. No one who didn't have to be awake was, not even Peter. On his desk were a few possible design sketches for Silk's new outfit. None were colored in yet, not beyond black and white, but next time he saw Cindy he'd show them to her.

Close to midnight, the window to Peter's room was being opened from the outside. Peter slowly began to wake up, his enhanced hearing picking this up but for some reason his spider sense was on silent. He opened his eyes and bolted up in his bed, since there was only one thing he knew of that could get around his spider sense.

"Who the heck are you? What are you doing in my room?"

Peter blinked. 'That's not Venom's voice.'

Reaching over, he turned on a lamp and saw his intruder. It wasn't Eddie Brock reunited with the symbiote like he had feared, it was an ordinary young girl.

"What are you doing here little girl? Do you go sneaking into people's houses all the time?" Peter asked.

"This is my house." The girl stated. "And this is my room."

"Uhh no this is my room and my house." Peter corrected. "C'mon, go home already. I really don't want to have to make some phonecalls over this."

The girl looked over the room, seeing what she could in the limited light. "Seriously, what is going on here? I know this is my house, it looks the same and has the exact same address." She headed for the door. "Aunt May will explain everything."

"What?" Peter asked, confused. The girl left the room and Peter followed. She was pretty quick on her feet and moved through the house as if she knew exactly where everything was, allowing her to get to May's door and knock on it.

Peter caught up to her when the door opened and May looked with understandable surprise at the girl. "Who are you? Shouldn't you be home?"

The girl silently gasped and backed away. "Who are you? You're not Aunt May." She tried to look behind the old woman. "Uncle Ben? Are you in there? Please tell me it's really you."

Peter and May looked at each other, both confused as hell. May knelt down. "Calm down, just tell me who you are and we can sort this all out."

The girl collapsed and started crying. "What's going on? What happened to my family? Why are you people here in my house? I want to go home."

May wrapped her arms around the upset girl in a hug, and despite her claiming she was not the real Aunt May, it did suffice for the young girl who slowly cried less.

"Okay, let's start from the beginning to sort out this whole mess." Peter said as he knelt down too. "What is your name?"

She sniffled a bit before answering. "My name is... Penelope Parker."

Both Peter and May were as wide-eyed as could be to hear that.

"Penelope... Parker?" Peter repeated.

Penelope nodded. "I've lived with my uncle Ben and aunt May in this house ever since my parents died in a plane crash."

'Okay this is getting weird.' The teenage boy thought.

May let go of the young girl, and then they saw strands of spiderweb connecting her to Penelope's wrists.

'And it's getting weirder.' Peter added.

"Spider webs?" May asked. Penelope panicked and tried to brush them away, as if that would make them forget about the webs.

"You have spider powers?" Peter asked.

Penelope still looked frightened, but she huddled into herself protectively. "...yes. My class went on a field trip last month and I got bitten by this weird spider there. Next thing I know, I'm shooting gross webs out of my hands and climbing up walls." She sniffled a bit then looked to May. "I thought it was horrible, but Aunt May said this could be a good thing. That I could help people with these powers."

'So the spider that bit me and Cindy bit her too?' Peter asked himself. 'No, that can't be it. It's been at least a year since I've been bitten and if that spider has been alive this whole time shouldn't there be more people with spider powers out there? And it still doesn't explain how this girl thinks this is her home and how she has a nearly identical family and backstory to me.'

"Who are you people?" Penelope asked. "You look similar to my aunt, but you're definitely not her. Who are you?"

May cleared her throat. "I know this won't make sense to you, but I am May Parker. This is my nephew Peter. He's lived here in this very house with me and my husband Ben since his parents died in a plane crash too."

Penelope was stunned. "What?"

"I'm sorry, but this not your home. And I don't know of any other Parkers, so you must be confused dear." May tried to assure her.

"No, I'm telling the truth. I can prove it." Penelope said, then reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a pink cellphone with a unicorn decal on the back. She pulled up the gallery app then showed them the screen. "See?"

May took the phone and saw a photo of Penelope in front of this very house. That wasn't enough, so May checked the next one, and saw a girly bedroom that looked eerily like Peter's room in structure and color if not decoration. The next picture was the most surprising, for it showed May and Ben, but she had her hair worn down instead of up and different glasses, and Ben was missing some of his hair. Both looked about five to ten years younger than May was now, and both of them were standing with a smiling Penelope.

"Peter, could these be faked?" May asked, starting to really question how much of the girl's story was true.

"It's not impossible, but why would she fake these?" Peter asked back, checking another picture that showed a different young girl with red hair, possibly a friend of Penelope. 'Weird, this girl reminds me of Mary Jane.'

"I'm not lying. These are pictures of my life, my home. It's bad enough I'm a freak who shoots webs out her wrists, don't make me lose my home too." Penelope pleaded.

"You're not a freak." Peter said.

Penelope looked away. "Easy for you to say. You're not a spider weirdo like me."

The teenage boy glanced towards his aunt, and if she had not been there he was certain he would have said more on that particular subject.

"You must be tired. Why don't you take my room tonight, get some sleep, and we'll figure everything out tomorrow morning?" May suggested.

Penelope nodded, though she didn't look too happy about it.

* * *

The next morning Peter woke up earlier than the others but still slept in. Considering what had happened last night, May allowed him to skip school today. He had to call the school himself though to inform them, claiming it to be a family situation.

'Okay, hours later and this still makes no sense.' He thought as he made some toast. 'I've dealt with a living costume, seen a man turned into molten metal, found out the spider that bit me bit another girl too, and somehow _this_ is the weirdest thing I've ever seen.'

He could hear someone walking towards him, and turned to see a groggy Penelope, rubbing her right eye while yawning. "Sleep well?" He asked.

"I hope I'm still asleep, because I'd hate for this to not be a dream." She remarked, then sat down at the table. "This looks so much like my kitchen, but it's not the same."

Peter poured two glasses of milk and gave her one, which she accepted. "So... Penelope? You say that this is your address, and you have an aunt named May and an uncle named Ben, right?" She nodded. "What were your parent's names?"

She looked hesitant to answer. "My dad was Richard and my mom was Mary."

"And you're how old?"

"Eleven."

"Let me guess, you go to Midtown Elementary?" Peter tested.

Penelope nodded. "Yep. I'm in Ms Kraven's class."

"Wait, did you say Ms Kraven?" Peter asked, surprised.

Penelope nodded again. "Yeah, did you have her at my age?"

"Can't say I did." He replied. 'Okay, it's not impossible that the Kraven I know has some relatives, but wow is that unexpected.'

"Aren't you more interested in my spider powers?" Penelope inquired, wondering why he was asking about everything else. "I mean, I can hang from the ceiling like a bat. Why go on about my school?"

"About that, you see... I was bitten by a spider too."

Penelope perked up and blinked several times. "You mean... you can..."

"Everything except the webs. I need a gadget for that. But yes, you're not the only one. I know another girl my age who got bitten too, and she _can_ make her own webs. I'll have you meet her when we can."

Penelope stared at him for a moment, then she seemed to look a little relieved. "I'm not the only one." She said this as if a weight had been lifted off her.

"No, but Aunt May, _my_ Aunt May, she doesn't know."

Penelope looked confused. "You haven't told her? Why not? I told mine. I would have told Uncle Ben too, but she said it wasn't the right time. I was so worried about everything I couldn't help but agree."

"Aunt May has heart issues. I'm afraid the news would be too much for her. And if it isn't, the stress of worrying about what I do as Spiderman would make it worse."

"Spiderman?" Penelope repeated, confused. "Weird, I called myself Spidergirl when I had to save Flash from falling."

'She knows someone named Flash too?' Peter asked himself. "How long have you had these powers? I've had mine for a year now."

"I've only had them for a few weeks." She replied. "What do you do with yours? I mostly just swing around buildings for fun."

"Yeah that is fun. I'd be surprised if a girl your age was out dealing with the kind of criminals I have to fight every week."

"You fight criminals?" Penelope inquired.

"Yeah, not just normal bankrobbers or pickpockets. I've had to fight an old man dressed like a vulture, a guy whose whole body is made out of sand, a scientist transformed into a giant lizard, and my best friend's father dressed as a goblin throwing around grenades."

"Wow, the worst thing I've had to deal with as Spidergirl was a bunch of angry pigeons." Penelope stated before having some more milk. "So... Peter, right?" He nodded. "How many of us are there?"

"Counting you, I only know of three. But I'm starting to wonder if there might be more."

"Hey, maybe there's one more and we can make a spider version of the Fabulous Four and go fight King Doom."

Peter arched an eyebrow. "Fabulous Four? King Doom?"

She nodded. "Yeah, don't you know about the four astronauts that got exposed to cosmic radiation and the armored leader of Latveria?"

"Yes, but they're called Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom. Everyone knows that."

Penelope looked confused. "I'm pretty sure they've always been called the Fabulous Four and King Doom, Peter."

"It's not important. What's important is finding your family and clearing up this confusion. For now, I'll see if I can get Aunt May to let you stay here, since you have nowhere else to go, and Cindy and I will help you with your powers."

"Thank you."

"By the way, what's the last thing you remember before you came here?" Peter added.

Penelope looked up and put her hand on her chin. "I was going for a walk, wishing I could be swinging around the city. I didn't because I didn't have my costume with me and I didn't want to be seen. Newspapers were starting to talk about me, and I didn't want anyone to catch me."

"Word to the wise, keep that up here. The newspaper here hates Spiderman, they keep calling me a masked menace. I have to work harder than other heroes just to prove them wrong."

There was a moment of silence after this, so Penelope continued. "Anyway, I remember the sky turning bright white all of a sudden. Like the sun was overloading or something. Everything got so bright I had to cover my eyes, then the next thing I know I'm in an alley in the city and it was night. Like six hours had just passed in a blink."

Peter had nothing to say. What could he say regarding that? All he knew was that did not happen yesterday, and thus he only had more questions neither could answer.

Neither said anything anymore. Penelope got up and helped herself to a small breakfast while Peter finished his toast. After ten minutes, May came into the kitchen.

"Good morning kids." She said, trying to sound like it wasn't weird Penelope was here. "Have you tried calling anyone?"

Penelope nodded. "Yes, several times. Each time the call fails to go through. It's like none of my contacts exist anymore."

"Alright, then perhaps I should take you to the police station and see if they can help locate your family." May offered.

Penelope looked worried, and Peter couldn't blame her. "Actually Aunt May, I think I had a better idea."

"Oh, what is it Peter?"

"I could take here to the hospital for a blood test. That would be a quicker way to find relatives. And since she says she's a Parker no one would ask too many questions."

May thought it over. "Hmm... I suppose that could work just as well. But what do we do in the meantime? Her family must be worried."

Penelope closed her eyes and looked down. "I already tried calling everyone I could, but all I got was some message saying the numbers didn't exist."

May reached over and patted the young girl's back. "You can stay here until we find your family."

"Thank you." Penelope said quietly, just above a whisper.


	5. Swarming

Chapter 5 Swarming

Knock knock

"Coming." Cindy said as she got up and went to her door, opening it and seeing Peter. "Somehow I'm not surprised. So what brings you back so soon Peter?"

"Kinda need your help on something." Peter said, then stood aside to reveal Penelope and ushered her in. The young girl did, keeping her eyes on Cindy, showing her clear nervousness.

"Hello. Who might you be?" Cindy greeted politely.

"Penelope Parker. AKA Spidergirl."

Cindy blinked and looked to Peter. "What?"

"Believe me, that's only the tip of the iceberg."

* * *

Back at Midtown High, Peter's friends were noticing his continued absence. Gwen was worried about him, and even Harry was remarking how it was like Uncle Ben's funeral all over again for his friend. Mary Jane was confused, but claimed there had to be a good reason for him not being here. Though she had to admit it was kind of sad that only three people seemed to notice Peter's absence. The faculty didn't count because it was their job to notice.

But while Peter Parker was Midtown High's self-proclaimed 'professional wallflower', he wasn't the only student there that fit the description. At lunch another loner student, a boy named Michael Tan, was trying to enjoy some peace and quiet by eating atop the roof. Not that there was much quiet he could get in the New York area, but it did help him feel at ease.

"Well, look who's here."

And now all that ease was gone.

Michael jolted but did not get up. "Who's there?" He looked around, seeing no one.

"Don't recognize my voice dweeb?" A garbled but aggressive voice responded.

He still didn't recognize the voice, but he only knew one person that used the word dweeb as an insult, especially in regards to him. "What do you want Carl? I thought you were transferred."

"No, just suspended, but thanks to you I don't think I'll be coming back."

"Hey don't blame me for your problems. I didn't make you vandalize the girl's locker room." Michael objected.

While Flash Thompson was the better known bully at the high school thanks to being the star football player, he wasn't the only one. Carl King was another guy who bullied others. But there were two big differences between Flash and Carl. Flash was for the most part a teaser and general humiliater, but Carl seemed to believe that making anyone smaller than him wet their pants was an Olympic sport. And of the two, Carl took it really far by regularly trying to use animals, living or dead, in his activities. The last time he tried, he somehow put all the frogs meant for dissection into the girl's locker room and caused a disgusted panic, caught only because he got careless in bragging about it later. He had been suspended weeks before Spiderman first encountered the Vulture, but hadn't been seen or heard from since. Not that many people at school missed him or anything. Especially Michael.

"No you didn't, but it's your fault that something... _else_ happened to me."

Suddenly Michael felt something on his skin, more specifically his right hand and by his socks. Looking at his hand he saw a couple of grey spiders crawling on him. He naturally freaked out and swatted them off before practically kicking his shoes off to get any trying to crawl into his shoes or pants.

"You did something to me dweeb, and now it's time to return the favor."

Michael looked around, and he saw what looked like hundreds if not thousands of spiders come crawling out of the vents on the roof, surrounding him. Being a bit of an arachnophobe, Michael was beginning to hyperventilate. He looked everywhere for a way out, even considering jumping off the roof, but the spiders had him completely surrounded. Sure he could step on a few, but they'd swarm over him before he could kill enough of them to prevent such a reaction.

"Get away! Get away!"

The spiders of course didn't heed his words, the closest ones backing off when he frantically tried to stomp them but staying close. It was as if the spiders were waiting for him to drop his guard or something. Or for him to fall and become easy prey.

"GET AWAY!"

To Michael's surprise, the massive swarm of spiders actually started to back away, even if they looked confused as to why.

"What? What is this? What are you doing?" Carl was heard asking.

Michael was just as confused but now a little more confident. The spiders looked like they were trying to get closer but couldn't, as if there were something repelling them from their target. This made him laugh. "Whatever you're doing to control these spiders isn't working anymore Carl."

"I don't what you're doing to my spiders dweeb, but next time you won't be so lucky." Carl was heard saying before the horde of arachnids retracted back into the vents and pipes they used to get here in the first place.

When they were gone, Michael sighed in relief and decided he had been up here long enough.

* * *

"Wow, that is... surprising."

Peter nodded. "That's one way to understate it."

"How do you think I feel in all this?" Penelope piped in, sitting on the couch.

Peter came around to the front of the couch and sat down beside her. "We'll find your family and home, I swear Penny."

Penelope smirked and closed her eyes. "Only Aunt May and Uncle Ben ever called me Penny."

Cindy sat down on the opposite side of the young girl. "So I'm just going to ask, does this mean we have a Spidergirl in our group now?"

"No, right now our priority is finding her home." Peter answered. "And what group? I'm the only one here with actual experience as a crime fighter. Are you seeing us creating some kind of spider version of the Sinister Six?"

"Hey I'm not saying send her out into danger. But she made the same choice we did when we got our powers. To do something good with them. Shouldn't we give her the option to keep doing that?"

"But I'm just a kid. How much help could I be?" Penelope asked. "I've never fought anyone and I don't even have my costume with me anymore."

"Well if Peter's making mine he can make yours too. Fortunately your sizes are easier to get." Cindy replied, glancing towards the teen boy for a moment.

"Do you even want to be a superhero Penny?" Peter asked.

Penelope looked at her left hand for a moment, remembering when that spider bit her. She then closed her eyes and sighed. "We all were bitten by a spider, and none of us can go back to being normal anymore. Heh, but I guess I was never really normal in the first place." She opened her eyes and looked to Peter. "I appreciate the concern Peter, but what can I do as a Spidergirl other than be a superhero?"

"Well, I tried to be a celebrity first, but that didn't work out." He replied. "Alright then, Cindy and I will be here to help you. But first, let's try and find your family."

Penelope nodded, then the three left the apartment to go to the hospital.

* * *

The school day ended and the weekend began. Students left to go either home, to afterschool jobs, or have fun. Michael headed for the train and headed out of Midtown and eventually to Long Island. The entire ride over he kept watching for any signs of spiders.

Michael left the train at Queens, taking a cab past the residential portion of the city and reaching a building resembling a greenhouse.

"Hi Mike, glad you could make it." A brown-haired man with glasses wearing a beekeeper outfit greeted the boy as he came inside. "You better get geared up, the bees are a little more aggressive lately for some reason."

Michael took his own outfit and started putting it on. "That's okay Uncle, I'd rather deal with the bees than with spiders today anyway."

Fully covered, Michael and his uncle went to check on all the artificial beehives in the building. Numerous bees were buzzing about, helping themselves to the many potted flowers also inside.

"Wow, they sound angry." Michael noted, seeing several hovering around him like he was some kind of flower.

"Or maybe hungry." His uncle added.

"Hungry?" Michael repeated, confused.

"Yeah, your parents didn't want me to tell you this when you were a kid, but I think you're old enough now. You remember how I told you my grandparents were beekeepers that came here from South America some time after WWII?" The uncle asked, coming towards a locker.

"Yeah, and they brought a hive with them, the same hive these bees are descended from." Michael replied, having to swat away a few bees that were starting to block his visor.

"Well, the thing is these aren't normal bees. Sure they do make honey, but they're a special... predatorial breed." His uncle explained, opening the locker and pulling out some bottles filled with a red liquid. "I give them some liquid protein once every week since they can't eat just nectar alone, but for some reason it doesn't seem like it's enough anymore."

"Wait, you mean to tell me this entire time I was helping you raise meat-eating bees?" Michael asked, worried.

The uncle started pouring the liquid into small trays, attracting the bees. "Yeah, this is why your parents didn't want me to tell you as a kid. But hey, you know how to handle them now thanks to everything I've taught you."

Michael took a moment to take a few breaths. "Sorry Uncle, but today some jerk tried to have a bunch of spiders swarm all over me. I really am not in the mood to think about bees doing the same."

The uncle moved onto the next hive, but the bottle ran empty after a drizzle. "Oh dang, hey Michael can you refill this while I grab another? The tank's on the other side."

Bottle in hand, Michael went around the locker, seeing another that he had never seen open before. He opened it, and saw it was filled with a large orange plastic tub with a tap in it, looking similar to a keg. Though he had never actually used a keg before, the mechanics were obvious enough, so he put the bottle under the nozzle and turned the knob.

Something must have been wrong with the tap or nozzle or something, because the red liquid inside sprayed all over Michael like a sprinkler. He scurried backwards, shielding himself with his arms, but it did little to stop him from getting drenched in the stuff. Since his face was covered in netting, some of it managed to get in his face.

He managed to get away from the spray, quickly taking off his netted protective hat in order to wipe the stuff out of his eyes and out of his mouth, but he froze when he heard the increasing sound of buzzing. He tried to see, but he didn't need to now. He could feel several bees land on him, his skin tingling where they did, and he swore he could feel them start to bite him.

"GET OFF ME!" He screamed, trying to bat and swat all them off. The buzzing increased, sounding agitated, and more bees came to him. In his desperation he focused on trying to get rid of them rather than putting his hat back on, though to be frank that would just trap several inside.

"Michael get outside!" He heard his uncle advise.

The high school boy dashed for the door, hitting his knee against a hive which stalled him and agitated a few more. The bees kept covering him, giving him a beard, mustache, and afro, while dozens more crawled down his suit. Now he knew he could feel them biting, tearing off chunks of his skin.

'C'mon, why can I get rid of spiders but not bees?' He asked himself, making his way outside. He didn't stop, he was taught that when bees attack the best strategy is just to get away from the hive. Get far away enough and they'll lose interest. He prayed that still applied to his situation.

"GET AWAY! GET AWAY!" He shouted in pain, trying to tear away his suit to get rid of more bees. But if anything the bees just got more aggressive, tearing into him more and more. The pain was getting worse as more and more of him was being devoured, the bees liking real meat more than a protein spray.

"Michael!" His uncle called out in horror, seeing his nephew fall to the ground flailing and trying to save himself. Still covered himself, he rushed to the boy and tried to swat away any and all bees he could before grabbing him and trying to pull him away. Unfortunately, it wasn't working. The swarm had tasted blood and they wanted more.

"I'll get the hose!" He claimed, releasing the teen before heading back to the greenhouse. It only took a moment, but by the time he came back he saw Michael wasn't flailing anymore. Gulping, he hosed down the swarm around him, trying not to hit the boy directly. The bees backed away an he kept up, moving around to try and force the insects back towards the greenhouse. He wasn't concerned about actually getting them back inside, they would return to the hive on their own.

When the majority of the swarm was away, he checked on his nephew. He gasped and covered his mouth. Michael barely had any skin left, his eyes and hair were gone, and the swarm had even dug into his muscles and fat already. It was like they were trying to eat him down to his bones, and they had nearly succeeded. The forced breaths coming from the boy was the only thing proving he was still alive.

"Hold on, I'll call 911!" His uncle told him, running off to the house as fast as he could since he didn't have his cellphone on him. A horrible mistake he would not be making again.

"Helllllpppp... mmmmeeeeee..." Michael wheezing, reaching out for anything and nothing. The sound of buzzing returned, and his arm went limb.

* * *

At the Manhattan Hospital, Peter, Cindy, and Penelope sat in one of the examination rooms waiting for results. They had so far taken a blood sample from the young girl, and since she was technically a missing person they checked for fingerprints too. Now all they could do was wait.

"I gotta say it's nice to have a day where nothing bad happens." Peter commented while Cindy and Penelope played a game of go fish.

"I've spent the past year stuck in a lab, I'd kill for some legit action. Best I've gotten is a drone spying on me." Cindy countered.

"Am I really going to have to fight things like electric people, cyborgs, sand men, and an alien?" Penelope asked.

"Well sorry, but there just aren't that many kid-friendly super-villains out there."

The door opened and a doctor came in with a clipboard. "We have results, but they're... very strange." He looked to Peter. "Now Mr. Parker, you say that Penelope here is not related to you?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"You see, well, I'll start with the easier one." The doctor continued, sounding like he needed to clear his throat. "The blood tests show a very strong connection between you and her. In fact, you two share both maternal and paternal DNA. Quite frankly, it's like the only genetic difference between you two is Peter's Y chromosome."

Peter and Penelope blinked in surprise. "Wait, you're saying we're actually brother and sister?"

"I'm saying if your ages weren't different, these tests would say you're more along the lines of fraternal twins."

The two Parkers looked at each other, neither knowing how to take this.

"Doc, you said that was the easy thing to tell us. What's the hard thing?" Cindy asked.

"Okay, we sent in her fingerprints to the police and they sent us back a match. We thought there was something wrong with the results and tried again. But the results did not change. I have no idea how to explain this but... according to all records, Penelope's prints... are identical to Peter's."

Peter and Penelope looked back at the doctor. "What?" They said together.

The doctor nodded. "Yes. There must be a glitch or something involved, but according to these tests, you two have the exact same fingerprints and handprints. Not even twins have that."

"You're making it sound like we're clones or something." Penelope stated.

"Don't be ridiculous. There's something wrong with the machines. But since we can confirm a blood relation, there's no reason to separate you two. I'd suggest going home and trying again later."

Not having any other options, the three spider-people thanked the doctor and left the hospital, more confused than when they got there.


	6. Infestation

Chapter 6 Infestation

"Hey Peter, where have you been?" Gwen asked when she saw Peter at school.

"Bit of a strange family situation." Peter admitted. "You see... it turns out I have a little sister I never knew about."

Gwen blinked and gasped. "A sister? You have a sister?" Peter nodded. "Tell me about her."

"How about you come by my place after school and you can see her yourself?" Peter asked, hoping this meant he could spend some time with the blonde girl without Harry around.

Gwen smiled and nodded, secretly wanting the same thing. "Sure, that sounds great."

* * *

"Oh I love the feeling of swinging through the city." Cindy dressed as Silk said to herself, treating herself to a web trapeze act. Since she wasn't in school anymore and Penelope was currently being watched over by Aunt May, she had nothing better to do than web-swing and see if there was any trouble.

'It's strange how crime around here seems to have gone downhill. It's like getting rid of that Tombstone guy did more than Peter thought it would do.'

All of a sudden her spider sense went off, nearly making her pause which was a bad idea given she was at that instant in between two buildings. Fortunately her spider powers helped her reaction time and allowed her to swing around the building and land on the side. Whoever was on the inside was likely surprised to see a teen girl covered in spiderwebs cling to the window like a bug, but she was focused on what threat was in the area.

'That's strange.' She thought after she moved around, seeing what looked like a small dark cloud hovering around a building side, like it was trying to get inside. 'Wait, that's the hospital. The same one we brought Penny to yesterday. Is something after her and trying to track her down?'

Silk swung over towards the hospital, being careful not to go directly towards the cloud since it was setting off her spider sense. When she got to the side, she could tell it was making noise. A soft but persistent buzzing.

'Bees... why did it have to be bees?' She asked herself, cringing and backing away a bit. 'A swarm of bees is trying to get inside the hospital, and lucky me I've got nothing but webs to protect me.'

So far the bees weren't paying attention to her, allowing her to slowly get into position. A bit slower than Peter would have, but when Silk had the chance she moved just as quickly. She shot out web after web, ensnaring as much of the swarm as possible. Naturally a good portion of the swarm caught on and flew away, keeping close still but turning their attention towards the webslinger.

Acting quickly she backed around the corner, trying to weave a web net between her hands. The swarm came after her, forcing her to keep on the move. Going around the next corner, she had the net halfway done, and struggling not to get it tangled in her rush.

'C'mon, gotta hurry.' Silk told herself, keeping on the move. But by the time she reached the next corner, she noticed something. 'Wait, the buzzing's stopped.'

Looking around, she saw the swarm had not followed her.

'Weird, they must think they drove me off. But what are they here for? What do they want? Or worse, who's bringing them here?' She asked herself, allowing herself to weave at a more comfortable pace. She still had to get rid of the bees since any number of people here could be allergic to them.

* * *

Inside the hospital, more specifically the room that the swarm had been hovering around, Michael was settled in a bed, as bandaged as the Invisible Man, and hooked up to the legal limit on painkillers. It had been a miracle that his family had been able to rush him to the hospital, though the ride was a bit long since his family doctor was back in Midtown.

With the amount of drugs in his system, and his parents in another part of the hospital being told by the doctors what they knew, he was oblivious to the swarm of bees that had tracked him back to Midtown. He was oblivious to the amount that were outside trying to get inside or keeping Silk at bay. And he was oblivious to the cluster of bees that had found a way inside thanks to the ventilation system.

One by one, bees came up to him and crawled over him, exploring his bandages trying to find a weak spot. If any part of him was aware of this, Michael likely didn't care and probably would welcome death at this point. Whatever strange power he had used against the spiders earlier, oh he hoped that didn't make him a mutant, but whatever it was it didn't seem to apply to bees. Whatever they wanted to do to him, they were here to finish the job, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

The bees made tears in his protective cover and ventured inside, finding his damaged flesh. But instead of devouring it, they started to do something else. The bees started to rub wax fibers into his tissue, with a few even stinging him and injecting strange toxins into him. With more coming in, the process sped up.

* * *

Back outside, Silk saw the swarm again. It was smaller, but she didn't notice it. 'This better work.'

She attached one side of the web net to the side of the building with another strand of web like a tether, held one side of the net in one hand and a webline attached to a higher floor in the other. She jumped forward, swinging around the building side with the net expanding behind her. The swarm was caught by surprise, entangled in the web before they could escape, and when Silk landed she attached the other end of the net to the wall, effectively trapping the swarm.

"Damn I can't believe that worked." She said to herself, stepping away and brushing her hands.

"Who are you and what are you doing?" A doctor asked, leaning out of an open window.

Silk turned his way and pointed to the captured swarm. "You better call an exterminator. I think there's a hive around here. I'll work on getting rid of these."

Looking at the trapped swarm, the doctor decided he was better off letting her handle this and closed the window behind him.

* * *

During lunch break, Peter wasn't in the cafeteria but stealthfully exploring the school. Ever since he got to school his spider sense had been going off. Not exactly flaring or tingling, but a steady presence like he was being watched. And it had gone past annoying already.

'Something's here, looking or waiting for something.' He thought, trying to find some of the emptier parts of the school. He didn't have his costume with him, so whatever he was going to do, he'd have to do it as Peter and not as Spiderman. To start he chose the library, so no one would think it would be weird for him to be missing lunch if caught.

"Peter, something wrong?"

Caught by surprise since his spider sense was preoccupied, Peter turned and saw the curious face of Mary Jane Watson. "MJ? What are you doing here?"

"I believe I asked you first Tiger." She replied.

Trying to think of a cover story, Peter ended up deciding to go a different route. "Mary Jane, have you ever felt like you were being watched?"

Mary Jane nodded. "Yeah, I've actually been feeling that all day for some reason. Like the school just installed a butt load of security cameras and each one of them is hidden. But I thought I was just imagining things. You feel like you're being watched everywhere too?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah but I don't think it's security cameras. Considering all the bad guys that Spiderman and SHIELD have to deal with, I can't help but wonder if it's something much worse."

Mary Jane tilted her head. "Don't you think you're being a bit paranoid Peter?"

"You admitted you felt you were being watched too, remember?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but not by supervillains. Unless you think one's working here."

"Well maybe the gym teacher…" Peter commented, then shook his head.

"Looking for me?"

Peter and Mary Jane looked around, surprised by the sudden question, but they saw no one. What made it worse was the voice, a male judging from the sound but not one either recognized, sounded amused. Like he thought it was funny they thought they were being watched.

"That's not the gym teacher." Mary Jane whispered.

From one of the vents near the top of the wall, dozens and dozens of spiders started crawling out, like something right out of a horror movie. Peter noticed it first and elbowed Mary Jane, who gasped to see the swarm.

"You have nice skin. I think I'll take it." That same voice from before said, somehow coming from the horde of arachnids.

"Definitely not the gym teacher." Peter quipped as he and Mary Jane ran off.

"You can run, but you can't hide." The voice mocked from behind.

The doors to the library quickly came into sight, but before they could leave Mary Jane stopped, prompting Peter to do the same. "MJ? He asked.

"Peter, whatever that thing is, it can get anywhere in the school and attack anyone. But right now it's here and focused just on us. We go out there, and we're just giving it more prey."

"I see the reasoning, but we shouldn't assume that all of it is right here. More could be hunting down others right now anyway, and what can we do to stop what is here?" Peter asked, trying to think up a solution that wouldn't require Spiderman to solve. But right now his instinct to keep civilians out of the way was coming first.

"How cute, thinking you can save the rest of the school from me." The mass of arachnids said as it gathered around them. Apparently these spiders were a little faster than the standard breeds that lived in Manhattan. "So then big heroes, what are you going to do to stop me? Got any Raid cans on you?"

Mary Jane surprisingly made a quick move to stomp on part of the swarm. The crunching sound was rather sickening and the spiders even made small shrills of pain in the brief moment they could. The closest part of the swarm backed away.

"Best way to handle a bug is to step on it." Mary Jane declared.

"Step on this!" The swarm raged, practically jumping at her. The spiders got on her legs first, and she naturally tried to bat them all off while stepping on the rest. A good number crawled under her pants and several even started crawling under her blouse. Right away she started feeling all of them biting at her, much more furiously than normal spiders. It was almost like they were trying to rip her open.

Peter looked around and got an idea. "Hold on Mary Jane!" He went off and pulled the emergency fire extinguisher off the wall, then came back and sprayed it on her. Both she and the spiders made startled sounds at being hit by the cold blast. The spiders backed away and left Mary Jane's body, with Peter spraying them to make them back off.

"This isn't over. You won't be able to protect yourselves forever. I'll find you again and when I do..." The swarm started, but the extinguisher encouraged them to leave before it could finish.

Feeling safer, Peter went to check on Mary Jane. "You okay?"

"I'm freezing and my skin is crawling and numb at the same time, but yes." She answered, shivering and huddling into herself. Then she got wobbly. "Ugh… my head… what's wrong with me?"

"Were you bitten? We need to get you to the nurse."

Peter tried to get the redhead girl to stand up, which she almost did. But whatever the spiders had done to her was making her too disoriented to keep herself upright. She even made a few gagging sounds like she was close to throwing up.

'Thank God for my spider strength.' Peter thought, resorting to simply lifting her up and carrying her bridal style. Her clothes were wet and cold, but considering he was the one to make them that way he had no real right to complain. He went into the hall and tried to remember where the nurse's office was. Unfortunately, he ran into Liz Allan first.

"Petey, why are you holding that girl?" The cheerleader asked, sounding confused and a tiny bit accusing.

"She's having a bad reaction to some spider bites. Do you remember how to get to the nurse's office? I'm drawing a blank here." He asked. 'Gee, I can tell you how to get from Queens to the Upper East Side via webslinging but I can't remember how to find one room in this school. Thank you mental priorities.'

Liz looked to Mary Jane as if to judge Peter's claim, then back to him. "Yeah I can show you. Follow me."

"Thanks." He said, following her. It was a good thing that his former girlfriend wasn't being spiteful, but then again her friends weren't there watching her so she didn't have to put on a show. That may have been why she still used her old nickname for him just a moment ago too.

* * *

'I hope this makes her feel better.' May thought as she sat on a bench in a nearby park, watching Penelope on a swing. They had checked the local elementary school and they had no record of Penelope having ever attended there, nor anyone she could name. Except for Flash Thompson, though he had obviously left the school years ago. Now with no home and no school, the young girl had nothing to do but mope and kill time at the Parker house. May hoped some time at the park would lift the girl's mood for a day if nothing else.

"Hey, either use the swing or get off it!" Some kid shouted to Penelope, who wasn't actually swinging but just sitting there.

The young girl frowned a bit and slid off. "Fine, help yourself." She muttered then walked away, not really going anywhere.

"Boy you look like you're having fun." Another kid said sarcastically beside her. Penelope looked this time seeing an African-American kid her age with short dark hair and black eyes. He wore a red and black striped shirt and brown pants, had a basketball tucked under his right arm, and for the most part looked as average as she did.

"Just leave me alone okay? I'm in no mood." She replied.

"Let me guess, it wasn't your idea to come here, was it?" He continued.

She sighed. "No it wasn't, now please just leave me alone. I've got a lot on my mind."

"Know how to play basketball? Shooting some hoops can take your mind off some things." He suggested.

Penelope looked towards the hoops in the playground. "I know the basics, but I suck at sports."

"That's okay, I'm not so good either. But it's boring to play alone."

Penelope looked at the hoops again and shrugged. "Might as well if we're not keeping score."

Aunt May smiled as she saw the young girl open up and join a boy with his game. It wasn't much but it was a start. 'I can't imagine what she must be going through. I don't even know how to wrap my head around this. But I do know that until we can find her home, I can give her the next best thing. And Peter can help her more than I can.'

Penelope and the boy dribbled and threw the ball several times, both only getting in a shot once. Penelope had to be careful that no webs got stuck on it, nor that the ball got stuck to her wall-climbing fingers. But overall she actually was having some fun, unlike in gym class.

"Hey Miles!" Someone called out, causing the boy to stop and turn. Penelope saw he was looking to an African-American teen, one that had short black hair but most of his hair shaved except for a streak across his scalp, like he was trying to combine an afro with a mohawk. He wore a denim jacket with spikes on the shoulder over a shirt that looked like Frank Castle's casual wear with faded ripped jeans.

"Coming Hobie!" The boy, apparently named Miles, called out then picked up the ball. "Sorry, gotta go with my cousin."

"That's okay, it was nice playing with you." Penelope said with a wave, certain she'd never see the boy again as he walked away.

* * *

In the evening, Michael slowly stirred back into consciousness. 'Huh, so I'm still alive, but I don't think I'm going to be going back up to Uncle's place anytime soon.'

Not fully aware of how patched up he was, he tried to move around to get a better look at himself. The bandages and casting quickly made itself known, but that wasn't what bothered him. No it was the buzzing and tingling he heard and felt under the casting when he moved. The sound was one he was quite familiar with.

'No, no no no no!' He thought in a panic, trying to move faster despite his hindering health treatment. He was delayed, but he kept trying to get out of the bed. To his surprise, the bandages started to tear from the inside, and as he feared, a couple of bees came out.

The sight of the bees amplified his panic and Michael decided he had to get away even if he hurt himself worse in the process. He threw his legs over the side and pushed himself up, pain shooting up his legs and his balance thrown off, causing him to fall to the floor. More bees came out and began ripping apart the bandages, but none of them were doing anything bad to him. Though after his recent experience, that did not matter to him.

Some of the bandages around his hand was pulled away enough for Michael to see underneath, and the sight made him stop for a bit. He first thought that his skin had changed color somehow or was covered with a sickly pus. The shock didn't last and he went back to crawling towards the door to his room. He was the only occupant and had no idea how to alert any personnel so getting out in the open was the only option he could think of. More and more bandages were cut away and even the casting started getting chipped away at thanks to the bees and his own movements. More of his body underneath the wrappings came into view, and it showed a sickly red-yellow color, like he was bleeding honey or something.

While Michael wasn't sure how to alert orderlies, there had been machines hooked up to him checking his vitals that naturally alarmed the staff that something was happening. Two doctors got to his room and opened it, surprised to see the patient crawling on the floor. "Mr. Tan what are you doing?"

Before the teen could answer, a multitude of bees came out of his bindings and hovered above him as if warding off the doctors. It worked, prompting them to back away but not flee.

"What's happening to me?" Michael asked, the bandages falling away from his face.


End file.
